Webinar: Digital Rights for the African Child
The International Day of the African Child which was established in 1991 by the African Union commemorates the Soweto Uprising of June 16, 1976 when more than 10,000 black schoolchildren marched to draw attention on the quality of education and imposition of a language of instruction in their classrooms. It is estimated that there more than 600 million African children as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) adopted in 1990 identifies every human being below the age of 18 years as a child.
While the 2026 theme for the International Day of the African Child is ‘Ensuring universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene for every child in Africa’, AfLIA as the continental body for the Library sector attached an addendum; ‘ensuring digital rights for the African child’ to the theme.
Digital rights for children in Africa are situated at the intersection of education, technology governance, human rights and child protection provisions encapsulated in different policies. These rights and principles which are reinforced by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child safeguard how children access, use, and possibly shape the digital environment in ways that are equitable, and empowering. One of the enduring lessons of the COVID shutdown is that digital environments can quickly become primary learning spaces.
- Do digital rights for the African child cover the necessity of ensuring that children are taught skills on how to identify misinformation and harmful content as they learn or access learning resources online?
- Is it a digital right for children to be protected from cyberbullying, online grooming, radicalization and exposure to harmful or age-inappropriate content?
- Do African children have the right to Data Protection provisions when they go online or can their data be collected without informed consent thereby exposing them to exploitation, surveillance and profiling for commercial purposes?
- How can African libraries as safe and supervised digital spaces operationalize children’s digital rights through provision of equitable access to digital tools, teaching critical literacy skills and curating trustworthy, and culturally relevant content?
- Do African libraries have lessons to learn from their European counterparts in this regard?
Join us for the answers to above questions as we commemorate the Day of the African Child with a webinar titled Digital Rights and the African Child.
Date: Tuesday, 16th June, 2026
Time: 14:00 UTC | 15:00 WAT | 16:00 CAT / SAST | 17:00 EAT
Registration
Please click the registration button to sign up for the webinar. Once you register, you will receive reminders and updates about the event.
Target participants
All library and information professionals, in Africa and beyond are welcome to participate.
Speaker
Peter Joziasse is founder of Digital Child Rights foundation and proud volunteer of UNICEF. He’s member of the ITU Partner2Connect Digital Coalition of the UN, advisor of the EU Digital for Development Hub, member of the European Digital Education Hub, partner of the EU Children’s Participation Platform, member of the European Digital Skills & Jobs Platform, judge of the international Webby & Anthem Awards and investor in a privacy first communication platform. Peter has a background in marketing, communication, education, youth participation, culture, media and digitalization. Peter is an expert in the field of digital children’s rights, based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UN General Comment 25 (2021). Through his international foundation, Digital Child Rights, he promotes collaboration on digital children’s rights and the empowerment of young people in schools, libraries, and community centers, using Child Rights PLAY tools, Connection DESK challenges, Digital Child Rights PANEL research and Child Rights by Design LAB.
Technical requirements
After registration, reminders will be sent periodically to all participants. The webinar will be hosted on the Zoom Conferencing Platform. Participants who do not already have Zoom on their devices should download, install, and create an account ahead of time (CLICK TO DOWNLOAD).
Participants are encouraged to join at least 15 minutes before the start of the session to allow time to launch the application and test their connection. The speaker will connect using a webcam, and audio and video will be streamed through computer speakers. For the best experience, participants are encouraged to use a headset or earpiece.
Webinar materials
A list of resources and additional information will be shared at the end of the webinar to support deeper engagement with the topic. All registrants will have access to the presentation slides. The webinar recording will be uploaded to the AfLIA YouTube Channel after the event to support continued learning for both attendees and non-attendees. Please note that certificates of participation will not be issued for this webinar.
Enquiries
For further enquiries or assistance related to this webinar, please contact: afliacomm@aflia.net